1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an unmanned vehicle that moves automatically within an environment, in particular a cleaning robot, with a detection system for detecting object data in an environment of the vehicle and a calculating means for generating an area map based on recorded object data, wherein the area map has positions of objects located within the environment.
The invention further relates to a system comprised of at least one unmanned vehicle that moves automatically within an environment, with a detection system for detecting object data in an environment of the vehicle and a calculating means for generating an area map based on recorded object data, at least one external illuminating device designed separately from the vehicle, and a controller for transmitting a control command to the illuminating device.
The invention further relates to a method for operating an unmanned vehicle that moves automatically within an environment and/or a system comprised of such a vehicle, an illuminating device and a controller, wherein a detection system of the vehicle records object data in an environment of the vehicle and a calculating means generates an area map based on recorded object data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Unmanned vehicles moving automatically within an environment are known in prior art. For example, these can be designed as autonomous floor processing devices, in particular as cleaning robots, mowing robots, grinding and/or polishing robots. The vehicles have a navigation system, with which the vehicle can orient itself within an environment. The navigation system usually contains a detection system, for example a camera and/or distance measuring instrument, which records data in the environment that can be processed into an area map, by means of which the vehicle can self-localize and navigate.
Depending on the type of detection system, in particular in conjunction with optical detection systems, it can be advantageous to improve the lighting status within a partial area of an environment, for example increase the light intensity within this partial area of an environment, so that a picture taken by a camera can be better recognized, or decrease the light intensity so that a beam of light emitted by the detection system or its back reflection can be better detected.
For example, Published Patent Application US 2013/0056032 A1 discloses a cleaning robot with an image acquisition system and integrated lamp, which can be turned on and off either by a user input or automatically depending on a detected lighting intensity of the environment around the robot. It is further disclosed that a user transmits a control command to the cleaning robot via a terminal, which the robot relays to an external lamp so as to turn the latter on or off.